Letter from Prominent Academics on Toronto's Homeless Crisis

A network of advocates across the city working tirelessly to save the lives of people experiencing homelessness, are releasing this open letter from over 130 prominent academics have signed on to the call for Mayor Tory and City Council to declare a State of Emergency. See their open letter and the list of signatories.

Open Letter from Prominent Academics on Toronto's Homeless Crisis

A network of advocates across the city working tirelessly to save the lives of people experiencing homelessness, are releasing this open letter from over 130 prominent academics have signed on to the call for Mayor Tory and City Council to declare a State of Emergency. See their open letter and the list of signatories. You can join them, by adding your name to the petition here: progresstoronto.ca/take-action-to-declare-homelessness-a-crisis

27 Jan 2019

Preamble: This is an open letter from scholars & researchers in support of The Shelter and Housing Justice Network campaign. We are trying to build momentum for Toronto City Council to declare homelessness and the housing crisis a state of emergency this coming week. This letter and the messages it contains is part of a broader initiative linking artists, writers, scholars, politicians and many other concerned citizens. The consignees to this letter are all experts in housing, homelessness, community health and urban social issues. We share the same moral imperative contained in other letters that express the necessity to deal with this crisis immediately and humanely.

As scholars, researchers, and persons with lived experience, we support this campaign to ask the Mayor’s office and the City of Toronto to declare a state of emergency in regards to homelessness in Toronto. Collectively, our work is not simply academic. Some of us have survived poverty and homelessness, and many of us have been “boots on the ground” for decades; critical witnesses to the profound inaction of city, provincial and national governments, to an historically pervasive issue. While we do not want to see people living in tents under the Gardiner or having to sleep in emergency shelters, we find it unimaginable that, at a time when the need for these spaces is the greatest it has been in 20 years in Toronto, the City is evicting people from lifesaving squats and building emergency shelters at a glacial pace.

We are calling on the City of Toronto to implement emergency measures in keeping with its obligations under international human rights law, and to set an example in the context of the anticipated recognition of the right to housing in the forthcoming National Housing Strategy legislation.

We also decry the gross human rights violation represented by the forced evictions of people living under the Gardiner and other informal settlements across the City. People living rough do so because conditions in shelters are dangerous and / or inaccessible for them. International law dictates that a community with no other options should not be forcibly displaced without community consultation and a plan in place for an adequate alternative. We call on the City to immediately enter into negotiations with the individuals and communities directly affected and their allies and advocates, in order to identify an acceptable, safe, and accessible alternative enabling communities to remain intact and self-determining.

Let us get one thing straight: homelessness in Toronto has nothing to do with character deficits and poor choices. We note that this homelessness catastrophe cannot be separated from Toronto’s housing crisis, a result of the withdrawal of all levels of government from social housing provision, and decades of unrestrained market-driven development in Toronto. This crisis is now rapidly escalating with the emergent trend of investor acquisition of units at the low end of the private market, including aging purpose-built rental towers, rooming houses, and residential hotels. These units are then systematically emptied of their current low-income tenants, upscaled, and rented at much higher rents to higher-income tenants. We point to the recent acquisition of buildings on West Lodge by Timbercreek, the upscaling of Parkdale rooming house units into expensive “micro-suites,” and the plan to redevelop the Waverly Hotel into a private student residence, as current local examples of this global trend.

We also are concerned that emergency responses carried out by the state often re-victimize individuals and groups who face over-policing and social stigma on the basis of race, Indigeneity, gender, disability, and other factors. It is vital to ensure that an Emergency response by the City and Province uphold human rights. Emergency resources to address the crisis must be allocated and monitored with the active participation of individuals and communities directly affected.

An Emergency response is critical in order to fulfill the most fundamental rights to life, security, and dignity of people facing homelessness, and to fulfill the City’s most immediate obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian protocols. However, this must be accompanied by an urgent and fully-resourced plan to coordinate municipal, provincial, and federal resources to address the housing crisis that is causing this homelessness catastrophe.

Such measures must include strategies to mitigate the harmful impact of unrestrained market-driven development and the financialization of housing in Toronto. Such a plan must include:

Significant, dedicated funding for the urgent development of non-profit and supportive housing to meet the need;

Regulations to require provision of deeply-affordable housing in every private residential development, using an income-based definition of affordability;

Laws and penalties to prevent the eviction of low-income tenants from existing rental housing and the upscaling of low-end-of-market housing options;

Expansion of the City’s Housing Allowance program and other portable housing benefits to bridge the gap between income and rent for tenants in the private market - with measures to mitigate against rent inflation and to ensure landlords in receipt of these public monies maintain acceptable housing conditions.

A final appeal we would make is to everyday Torontonians: those housed, those who speculate, those who profit from the fabulous cultural diversity and strong urban economy. Torontonians need to accept that their well-being is in some ways contingent on the precariousness faced by other Torontonians. It is sometimes hard for people to recognize that the part-time, lower paid and informal labour markets that support much of the City’s economic machine live in dire housing precariousness. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that all Torontonians have a basic right to housing, and that the City must guarantee this housing.

As scholars and researchers, we are uniquely equipped to tell you that the composition of people experiencing homelessness and housing precariousness in Toronto is complex and far more diverse than fits into conventional understandings, or the scripts read by most politicians. We can also tell you that this housing crisis is real, and taking action now can only make the future better for all of us. As a City, we need to recognize that this is an emergency, and it requires immediate action.

Signed,

Teresa AbbruzzeseYork University, Department of Social Science

Sadie AftabYork University, School of Social Work, MSW Candidate

Farihah AliYork University, Health Policy & Equity, PhD Student

Tariq Amin-KhanDepartment of Politics and Public Admin. Ryerson University

Amanda AustinOCAD University, Master of Inclusive Design Candidate

Joanne AzevedoYork University, School of Social Work, PhD Candidate

Donna BainesUniversity of Sydney, Professor and Chair of Social Work

Katherine BearYork University, School of Social Work , MSW Candidate

Stephanie BegunUniversity of Toronto, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Heather BergenYork University, School of Social Work, PhD Student and frontline worker

Rupaleem BhuyanUniversity of Toronto, Associate Professor, Social Work